Pokemon Divine Legacy Book 2: The Legend Begins
by Maximus Prime 802
Summary: A new adventure begins, after discovering a great power Dawn must lead her friends on a quest to awaken the king of the gods and bring peace to the Pokemon world. Unaware that the Black Renegade has begun looking for her.
1. Prologue

**963 AD**

_For as long as I can remember, we lived in fear of him. Our masters told us that he held the power to tear reality asunder. Children would be told horrifying tales of his destructive misdeeds. This only made us more afraid of him. We feared for the day that he would surface and attack. That day came much sooner than I thought._

_I was just a child, apprenticing under the High Mistress Uraiya. I remember how peaceful the day started out, the sun glistened over the crystal clear ocean, Magic flying creatures soared over my heads and the many creatures that lived in our monastery's garden gladly feasted upon the berries from which they were free to eat. But then the skies turned black, the ocean around us began to boil, the air turned cold and bitter. Then, it happened._

_Repeatedly, he attacked the outer walls of the monastery. Captain Rameq and his Sacred Knights tried their best to protect us from his wrath. But how the mighty shall fall, as the an army of savage demons rose out of the sea, shrouded in a cloud of shadows, they overwhelmed and slaughtered the knights sworn to protect us._

_I remember that the blinding light and heat of the fires that ripped through the monastery, coupled with deafening explosions and the sounds of people screaming made it impossible for one to find their way around the monastery. I was terrified, I felt as though the entire world was collapsing around me and there was no way to escape. I had never been so afraid in my life. _

_Then Uraiya brought me to the Prayer Chamber. I hoped that she could use an incantation to repel him, instead she opened a passage in the wall and told me to leave. I was not going to abandon my mentor for any reason, not even this, she was all the family I had left. Uraiya told me that she and the rest of her sisterhood would pray to our god almighty to save them. At that age, it was very easy for me to be reassured and as such, I journeyed through the passage and down the dark tunnels._

_As I went down the passage, carrying a torch to light my path, I could hear them saying 'God on high, can you hear your people cry? Show us the light we seek to fly'. No matter how many times they chanted, I could not hear any sign that god responded, not his voice, not a sign that the evil one's attack was subsiding, there was nothing. As I finally reached the end of the passage and I saw a boat, in a small grotto which lead out into the ocean, that was when I realized, Uraiya did not have any intentions of returning._

_As I left the monastery for open seas, screams of agony and terror echoed across the seas, before everything fell silent. Our sisterhood had fallen, my home destroyed, I was left with nothing. But the worst had yet to come, this was just the beginning, war had begun._

_Chronicled by Nhakma, the lost child._


	2. Chapter 1

**Today**

Dawn was more chipper than normal, and why wouldn't she be? She and her friends had just defeated the greatest evil they had ever known, she was reunited with an old friend and she just celebrated her fourteenth birthday the night before. To question her enthusiasm would be like asking a Steelix why its hide was so thick.

Just the night before as her party had finished; Dawn's mother had asked her to go to Celestic Town to speak with Cynthia and her grandmother, Professor Carolina. Luckily for Dawn she was not alone, her friends; Ash, Red, Brock, Misty and May, accompanied by their Pokémon, were not that far behind her despite trying their best to keep up with the white hat wearing young coordinator and her Piplup companion.

"What do you think Cynthia wants to see us about?" Misty asked her friends.

"Whatever it was, it's important seeing as how concerned Dawn's mom was." Red answered with a straight face.

"Maybe Cynthia wants us to help her track down the last of Team Galactic's henchmen" Ash suggested.

"I doubt it that sounds like something Officer Jenny would see us about." Brock objected.

"I heard Cynthia and Dawn's mom talking during the party and from what I heard I can tell it's not going to be good." May added.

With that note all of them fell silent as they began to wonder in their minds what the discussion would be about. None of them assumed it would involve Team Galactic; with Sird dead, the rest of them should scatter around the nation, wandering without a purpose. But like Ash said, that sounded more like something Officer Jenny would summon them for, and besides Cynthia specifically asked for Dawn to be there. This only made the team all the more curious as to what they were heading into.

Eventually the six Trainers and their Pokémon allies made it to Celestic Town, and as per tradition; Cynthia was awaiting them on the other side of the archway.

"Why did you want to see us?" Dawn asked her ally with excitement after a friendly handshake.

"I see that you want to jump straight into the problem." Cynthia responded smiling. "Follow me; my grandmother is waiting for us at the Celestic Town Historical Research Centre." One by one, the six trainers and their many Pokémon followed Cynthia to the Research Centre.

When they got there, Professor Carolina was waiting for them outside the facility. "Cynthia, I see you brought the girl, and five others." The elder woman greeted.

"Trust me Grandmother, with what is coming; she'll need all the protection she can get." Cynthia responded. Upon hearing these words, Dawn turned her head and looked straight at the champion with a shock and fear in her face.

"Are you okay Dawn?" Ash asked.

"Oh I'm fine Ash except my excitement has just turned into shear panic." The young girl answered.

"Follow me" Carolina said as she reached for her walking stick and began to walk into the centre. The rest of the coalition began to follow her.

The group walked down the vast halls of the centre and began to make their way down to a storage room in the back. Carolina lead the group to a metal box not that far from the door. She unlocked the box, reaching her hand in and pulling out a scroll. The Professor unraveled the scroll on a large table and gestured for everyone to come and see what was on it. The scroll detailed a bloody battle between humans and Pokémon against an army of demonic beasts. Some Pokémon stood out from the rest of them and they seemed to be familiar to the team.

"That's Lugia, and Groudon, and Rayquaza." Ash commented, seeing so many familiar faces.

In fact it seemed as though many Legendary Pokémon were on that mural if not all of them. All these Pokémon who stood together against an army of monstrous creatures. Something stood out to Dawn; in the sky of the mural there were two beams of light, one pink and the other blue, were charging at a large dark red stream of light, heading right at them.

"What are these?" Dawn asked pointing right at them.

"This is the reason I summoned you all here." Cynthia explained. "I'm sure you're all aware with the legend of Arceus and the Creation trio." She continued. Misty and May both raised their hands at the same time.

"I'm not." They said at once. Cynthia looked at them with mild shock.

"Very well then, I'll explain it." Carolina gestured for them all to take a seat as soon as their guests were seated she began to speak.

"Long ago, an almighty Pokémon, named Arceus created three mighty Pokémon to help forge the universe and all that inhabited it with their united powers. Palkia created space and everything in it, Dialga created the flow of time, and Giratina created the void between time and space, antimatter. With their deed done, Arceus gave each of them a dimensional realm to inhabit; Palkia's realm governed space, Dialga's protected time and Giratina's world, The Reverse World, was created as a parallel to our own where damages done to our world would be healed there."

"A parallel world created to heal ours?" May asked, "That's just weird."

Cynthia continued with Carolina's story.

"For eons the four Pokémon watched over humanity and protected them. To ensure that they would always hold a bond with mankind, Arceus endowed a small fraction of his power into dozens of women that he believed to be the most pure and thus called them the Guardian Priestess'."

Carolina's tone turned dark as she continued.

"But in time, Giratina became consumed by darkness and evil filled his heart. Defying his father's wishes, Giratina created an army of savage monsters and sent them against the human race. In an attempt to prevent the other three from interfering, Giratina personally killed every Guardian Priestess hoping to sever the link Arceus had with this world. This started the Platinum Wars, and the first time man and Pokémon united forces. Fifty years of war passed; overmatched and outnumbered, mankind's extinction was inevitable. Until one fateful battle, Arceus used his power to banish Giratina into the Reverse World. But the stresses of the war had destroyed Giratina's home, turning the Reverse World, into the Distortion World, and his prison."

The professor paused for a moment to rest her voice before she proceeded with the story.

"As for Arceus, exiling Giratina took a great deal of his strength, and he had to return to his world where he would fall into an endless sleep."

"What does this have to do with us?" Dawn asked, dreading what the outcome would be.

"It has to do with you." Professor Carolina said pointing her walking stick at Dawn, before she continued to speak.

"Legends foretell however, a Guardian Priestess will rise, known as the Omega Priestess. She will awaken him and allow Arceus to return to the Pokémon world. That is you."

"I'm the Omega Priestess?" Dawn asked in complete alarm. "Why me? How do you know it isn't someone else?"

Cynthia answered her, "At the Galactic Fortress when you pulled Celebi out of the fire; that glow that brought it back to life, was not its magic, it was your own." Dawn looked around at the others, she was gob smacked at the thought of her being chosen by Arceus to become his disciple. Everyone was looking at her as though she had just regenerated a lost limb; even Piplup wouldn't stop staring at her.

"Dawn has been chosen by Arceus to start the final battle?" Ash asked. Before Carolina or Cynthia could even answer him; he and Brock fell to their knees, laughing hysterically.

"This girl, a holy woman? She tried to rip Red's eyes out a couple of days ago." He continued while laughing uncontrollably.

Upset by their laughter, Dawn released her Mamoswine from its PokéBall. The mammoth like Pokémon took one look at the two boys, whom stopped laughing the moment they saw the large Pokémon standing before them. The Mamoswine then turned around, and sat on both of them. Dawn could see Ash's arm sticking out from underneath Mamoswine and saw him slam his palm against the floor ten times before she called her Pokémon back to its PokéBall. The two then reared their heads up and began to gasp for air.

Carolina continued to explain the situation, "Look at your forehead child."

Dawn took a mirror out of her bag and look at her forehead. She saw the faint outline of the symbol of the Creation Trio. It was a triangle a circle on each of the edges. The circle on the left was blue, the one on the right was pink and the one at the top was red.

It looked too natural to be a tattoo, it blended into her skin like a birthmark. The symbol aroused her curiosity even more; she had never noticed these symbols before meaning that they must've just appeared.

"And your eyes." Cynthia added.

Dawn took another look in the mirror. She remembered her eyes being a vibrant and pure blue, now they were a bright and powerful yellow. A yellow that symbolized great power, power of heaven herself.

"That is a symbol that you are the Omega Priestess, the Messiah of our time." Carolina continued.

Dawn was still not fully convinced. She felt honored that Arceus would choose her to be his apostle, but why her? And why now? She was astonished by what she thought she might be able to accomplish if she was all they thought she'd be, but she had one very important question.

"Even if I am, what you guys think I am, how am I supposed to awaken Arceus?" She asked the professor. Carolina was fast to answer her.

"According to ancient texts I've read, the Omega Priestess must find the greatest of all castles, the God's monastery, the Palace of Light; a colossal castle created by Arceus as a temple for all humanity to look up to him."

"Why does Dawn need to find this Palace?" Misty asked the elderly scientist "Is there a relic inside of it that will wake Arceus up?"

"Dawn must find the Palace so that she can use her greatest gift to awaken Arceus and allow him to return to this world so he can use this world as a bridge way into Giratina's world and battle him." Cynthia explained.

"Well that doesn't sound so hard; a palace made by Pokémon shouldn't be very hard to spot." May concluded.

"That is where you are very wrong." Carolina commented "To ensure that Giratina could never find the Palace, Palkia used his spatial powers to move it from its original location. The Omega Priestess must follow riddles found on monuments hidden around the nation. The clues are hidden by curses that only a Guardian Priestess can lift."

"Is that it?" Red asked, surprised by how simple this quest sounded compared to others he had been on.

"That's not all, legends state that on the night of the Red Eclipse, Giratina will emerge from the Distortion World, you must find it before that happens." Cynthia warned.

"Just when things get difficult, they get impossible." Dawn concluded, as she collided her palm to her face. Cynthia felt the need to ease Dawn's frustration.

"Don't worry about it Dawn; these riddles will be no problem for a Guardian Priestess like you." She said smiling before she turned serious, "But the world needs your help. If Giratina returns to this world he will start the Platinum Wars again."

Just the thought of it horrified Dawn. A vicious war that nearly wiped out humanity and Pokémon was a terrifying thought. Just knowing that it happened sent shivers down her spine, to think that it could happen in her lifetime made the situation all the more petrifying.

"Will you find the Palace of Light, and save the world?" Cynthia asked her.

Dawn knew just what would happen should she declined, and not willing to fail the entire world because of her fear she answered, "I will."

Red stepped up beside her, "I'm going with you, for protection."

Ash ran up beside Dawn on the other side, "Hey without me you guys would get yourselves killed." He said smiling.

Misty couldn't help but roll her eyes at what Ash was saying, "Yeah, and without me, you'd get yourself killed." She responded.

Ash looked back at his girlfriend with no response to her. Misty just smiled as she stepped up beside Ash and linked her arm around his symbolizing her joining them.

Brock walked up to the quartet as well, "Who knows what Pokémon we'll meet, and you'll need my expertise on their anatomy for this mission." None of them bothered to respond because they knew he was right.

May finally stepped up with her excuse, "You're going to need someone to document this. An adventure like this, has to be recorded."

Cynthia and her grandmother smiled as the latter stepped forward, "Then I wish all of you the best of luck." Carolina complimented.

"We'll rest in this town for the night." Ash said. "But tomorrow, we'll leave to look for the first monument."

With that idea, the six of heroes began to walk out of the Research Centre leaving Cynthia and Carolina standing in front of the table, looking at the scroll.

"It is a warm feeling knowing that such brave children can be trusted with such a mission." Carolina complimented.

"I agree." Cynthia stated, but then she began to feel the obvious, "But there's no doubt that Giratina will not be happy about this."


	3. Chapter 2

Cynthia's deathly warning was all but obvious. For in a dimension like no other, a dimension that was altered; where time and space were damaged, a lone dragon soared through the twisting and deformed obstacles. This dragon had a dark grey serpentine body with six black tentacles coming off his back; the yellow armor on his head resembled a helmet with two pieces covering his mouth, this helmet could not cover his eyes, glowing a cold, heartless red. To an outsider he seemed outlandish and bizarre; but there were some who knew his name and feared it; Giratina, the Black Renegade, Lord of the Void.

"I sense a change in the very fabric of reality." He said to himself with a deep rumbling voice that seemed more like thunder. "The Omega Priestess has begun to rise. Again the legends of the other world, defy me. I convinced Mewtwo that man was beyond any saving, the fool was too weak to finish them. I corrupted the Butler's Groudon with my Dark Aura, it only united them. Has it truly come to this?"

Giratina knew what had to be done to ensure the downfall of humanity.

"Must I release creatures that only live to kill?" he asked himself despite knowing the answer.

The dark beast flew up to a lone land mass, high up enough to be at eye level with him. "Darkrai come forth." Giratina called out. From out of the shadows a deep purple spirit like Pokémon rose out of the long shadow Giratina's body cast. This demonic like creature could be none other than Darkrai, the Pitch Black Pokémon.

"I am at your beckoned call Giratina." Darkrai answered his master. "Where were you? I could not sense your life force." Giratina asked his disciple.

"I was in the shadows my lord." Darkrai answered. "From there I watch man, looking into its dreams learning what it fears and making those fears reality in their nightmares, for that fear gives me strength."

"You and I have both read the signs, the Omega Priestess has awakened." Giratina explained as he flew towards the mouth of an enormous cave, with Darkrai following him.

The inside of the cave was lined with hieroglyphics from the walls to the ceiling, there had to be millions of them in that cave. At the floor of the cave was a wide pool filled with a black viscous fluid. the substance was ice cold to the touch as a grey mist rose up from it. It chilled Darkrai to the bones to be in the presence of this evil substance, one that his king had mastered, the embodiment of all evil. Dark Aura.

"I will not let the Original One walk the Earth again." He continued as he waved one of his tentacles over the evil essence.

Rising out from the substance came six spheres, after the residue fluids slid off of it, they revealed themselves to be PokéBalls. But these PokéBalls were pitch black and had Giratina's symbol on it. The spheres hovered towards Darkrai and began to orbit his body.

"Bring me the Priestess." Giratina commanded his servant as he used his powers to create a picture of her out of midair.

"Dead or alive?" Darkrai asked his master. Giratina smiled a smile concealed by his mandibles.

"It will not matter, for once I have her, death will be her fate." He answered.

Darkrai knew that Giratina would be very pleased if he brought the priestess back alive so he could enjoy killing her himself. With his command given; Darkrai used his own powers to open a portal on the side of a massive crystal (One bigger than even Giratina), set atop a large landmass, back to the world of man. Giratina always despised the sight of portals to the human world being opened. Because of the curse put upon him by the power of his father, Giratina could not pass through any portals leaving him trapped in this forsaken wasteland of a realm. It tortured him to be so close to freedom and yet so far.

As Darkrai left through the portal Giratina gave them one final command,

"Destroy all who get in your path, leave none alive."

As he concluded his command the Pitch Black Pokémon went through the portal, it closed leaving Giratina alone in a vast endless world that was once his kingdom.


	4. Chapter 3

Morning sun beamed its light down upon Celestic Town. This was no ordinary morning; today was Dawn's first step into a new chapter in her life. This was the day she would begin her quest for the destiny of the world.

She and the others awoke very early as soon as the sun began to rise. Immediately, the six of them got to work preparing for their long journey. Ash and Misty headed for the PokéMart to pick up supplies; they grabbed everything from Antidotes to Full Restores. Ash recommended they pick up a can of motor oil; his reasoning was that they might need to make a bomb. Misty simply asked him when they would ever need a bomb, with that Ash had to put the motor oil back on the shelf.

Brock and Dawn made sure that all their Pokémon were at full strength, while May and Red did the same thing. They had no idea how long they would be gone for, it could be anything from days to even months depending on where the riddles were hidden. They all knew that they had only five months to end their quest, but the sooner they finish the better. None of them were going to admit it but their greatest fears were if any of them were even going to make it back.

After two hours the six heroes and their Pokémon were ready to travel. As they walked to the archway at the edge of Celestic Town they were accompanied by Cynthia and Carolina.

"Are you sure that you packed everything?" Carolina asked Brock for the fifteenth time.

"Yes for the fifteenth time." Brock answered mildly aggravated. "Sheesh, you sound like my mother."

Ash had been silent since they first arrived at the archway; he seemed nervous about something but was too afraid to say it. Misty knew what troubled him and was ready to confront him about it.

"Don't try to convince me not to go Ash; you know I can hold my own."

Ash admired her bravery, but also knew the risks of their expedition.

"I know you can and I'll make sure you come back in one piece." He commented. Misty smiled at the thought of his chivalry and decided to ease his nervousness with some mild humor.

"Good thing Pikachu is here to make sure you come back in one piece."

Pikachu, who was sitting on Ash's shoulder looked at his trainer and smiled.

Cynthia approached the six heroes, "This is going to be dangerous, Giratina will no doubt try to stop you and he will not take any chances."

Carolina continued on what Cynthia started, "This means you must not take this journey lightly, Giratina will only take advantage of this."

"I don't intend on dying any time soon." Ash said boldly.

"None do." Red commented to himself.

As they joined together at the archway; the six heroes prepared to leave but had one question. "How will we know where to begin?" Dawn asked the professor.

"You must concentrate Dawn, imagine yourself in an environment where you are full of endless joy, then think about the Palace of Light." Carolina explained. With that; Dawn sat on the dirt road and closed her eyes. It took her a little while but then she came up with a joyous dream and right afterwards she did as she was told and thought about the Palace of Light. In an instant her mind's eye brought her back to the edge of Celestic Town, but then everything began to move.

Before Dawn even knew it she was being hurtled across the Sinnoh Region. She saw many familiar sights flash by her at an alarming rate before she felt herself being pulled into a very familiar forest. She wanted to open her eyes but her instincts were screaming at her to keep them closed otherwise she would return to reality. In an instant; her mind had brought her before a tree made out of gold and levitating in the middle of a vast opening in the forest.

At that moment Dawn knew that this was the first monument they had to find. With this information she opened her eyes again. She then returned to the real world, back at Celestic Town and surrounded by her friends again.

"I wish you guys had seen it, it was amazing." Dawn commented. "I flew across the Sinnoh, and headed straight into the Eterna Forest where I saw a floating tree floating in mind air."

"That makes her sound sane." Brock commented to Red. At that moment Carolina struck both of them over the head with her walking stick.

"This is serious! This is what Arceus has presented to Dawn." She explained.

"If that's where we've got to go then let's get moving." Ash declared as the six trainers, Pikachu, and Piplup left Celestic Town to begin a journey for the fate of the world.

"I will go to Arrowroot Town." Cynthia explained to her grandmother. "They have an ancient archive in the suzerain's home, I hope that there I'll be able to learn more about the prophecy."

"Good luck." Carolina wished to her granddaughter. Cynthia then made her way back to her home in order to pick up her SUV to get to Arrowroot quicker. Leaving Carolina to stand at the entrance to the town lost in thought. Despite the many thoughts going through her mind, there was one that remained ringing within her thoughts. "The fate of reality hangs on a child's shoulders."


	5. Chapter 4

Cynthia had been on the road for half an hour now. Arrowroot Town was not that far away and she already knew the Suzerain there; Salvia. She was introduced to the sovereign by Dawn as the coordinator and the princess were exact look-a-likes. Cynthia would be in town within ten minutes.

As Cynthia kept driving she noticed that the skies above a vast span of forest had turned black and the sound of thunder came over it. She began to grow curious as to why this cloud had fallen just over this one area and didn't seem to be moving. If it was a rain cloud that meant it should have been over the entire sky by the time she passed the forest area. "Something is quite wrong." Cynthia said to herself.

Her suspicions could not be held back any further. She parked her SUV and stepped out. Wearily she went into the forest expecting the clouds to be right over her, but they were not. The clouds were even further away than she first thought. Steadily as she moved further into the forest, the closer the clouds got, and the bigger they got to. Cynthia's first instinct was that these clouds were the work of a Pokémon, but she was curious as to which Pokémon it was and so she proceeded further into the forest. Cynthia pushed some bushes out of the way to see what was ahead of her and she laid her eyes on a lake in the midst of the forest. The lake would not arouse her suspicion normally but in this lake something was happening that made her heart skip.

A great swirling purple vortex appeared at the edge of the lake closest to Cynthia. Emerging from it was a dark cruel Pokémon that was all too familiar to Cynthia, "Darkrai." She whispered to herself. Moving her hand slowly Cynthia began to reach for Garchomp's PokéBall on her belt, but something else caught her attention.

Darkrai looked around him observing where Giratina had sent them to. The area was known to Darkrai, it was the lake before Arrowroot Town. Darkrai suspected that Giratina sent them there because this was where the Guardian Priestess would be. Just as he prepared to take off the sound of a branch snapping from a nearby tree line caught his attention. Darkrai grabbed one of the Chaos Poke Balls hovering around him and opened it.

Emerging from the Poke Ball was something terrifying, it was the same essence of evil in the pool in the Distortion World, but it had solidified and taken the form of a Flygon. It simply flew in the one spot, it's eyes glowed a dark soul less red. this was a creature Cynthia had heard of but prayed to never actually see, a false Pokémon mad of corrupted antimatter.

"An Antimon." Cynthia whispered to herself. (Antimon, An Anti-Pokémon). Darkrai simply looked at the creature and pointed in her direction.

The Anti Flygon spun around facing the direction from which Cynthia was spying on the squadron. It became all but obvious to her that this creature had caught onto her scent and was preparing to attack. The beast then opened its mouth and let loose a beam of pure dark energy from its mouth that made its way to Cynthia's location. Narrowly the Pokémon champion dove out of the way just as the blast collided with the earth. When the smoke cleared it revealed just the damage the blast had done; the bushes and even the very ground itself were singed, there were even burns on trees that were several feet away due to the shockwave of the blast.

The turned around and began to communicate with Darkrai again, when the creature finished Darkrai responded, giving Cynthia a glimpse as to what the monster said, "Then show me her body."

The Anti Flygon began making an approach to the location of the blast when Darkrai stopped it.

"Don't waste time; Giratina is expecting us to return with the Priestess soon." Darkrai ordered, calling the Anti Flygon back to the Chaos Ball. Darkrai began to lower his levitating form towards the ground. Once he made contact with the earth he began to fade into it until he fully disappeared leaving his shadow behind.

Cynthia wasted no time in running back to her SUV. As she sat there she began thinking about the reason for Darkrai attacking Arrowroot Town. Darkrai said that they were going after the Priestess, and yet Dawn was heading to the Eterna Forest which is miles away from Arrowroot. Once she returned to her vehicle Cynthia finally realized what they were going after; Salvia. Being an exact look alike of Dawn and a descendant of royalty it stood to reason that Darkrai assumed she was the Guardian Priestess, "And heaven help her when Darkrai finds out she's wrong." Cynthia said to herself as she started the car and raced back onto the road.

The SUV was being pushed to its limit as Cynthia forced it to go faster. As she looked out the window she couldn't see Darkrai moving through the trees. Fortunately for her, the SUV was faster and it took very little time before Darkrai was outraced and left very far behind. "Now for the difficult part of trying to convince Salvia to flee the town." Cynthia said to herself as her vehicle approached Arrowroot Town.


	6. Chapter 5

Salvia sat at her desk preparing a speech that she had to give at the upcoming Arrowroot Town Contest. To her this contest was the highlight of the year; it reminded her of the time she participated in one under the persona of her idle Dawn. It was to her the greatest feat she had ever accomplished. But she wished that she could have something like that again, a feeling of great excitement, something other than the life she was living. Unbeknownst to her that event was coming very quickly.

Cynthia leapt out of her SUV and began to run to Salvia's estate. She reached the doors and began to smack her clenched fist against them with great force. "Salvia open the door! It's an emergency!" Cynthia shouted through the closed door. The doors opened and Cynthia was met by Freesia, Salvia's lady in waiting. "Cynthia, what brings you by?" She asked the Sinnoh celebrity.

"There's no time to explain!" She explained. "We have to get Salvia out of here." Freesia was confused by Cynthia's desperation, what could bring the champion to become so terrified.

"What's the matter?" Freesia asked once more. She was answered by the sound of people screaming and creatures shrieking and roaring.

"Too late." Cynthia concluded.

An Anti Nidoking leapt out from behind the fence around the mansion and charged at the two terrified women standing in the doorway. Cynthia acted fast grabbing a PokéBall off her belt and opening it.

"Garchomp attack!" She said as her iconic dragon Pokémon emerged from its PokéBall.

"Brick Break now." She commanded her companion. Garchomp then lunged into the air and lunged at the approaching beast. Garchomp then swung its claw down striking the demon on its back and sending it toppling to the ground.

The creature quickly recovered and jumped into the air and tackled Garchomp to the ground as it began to bite its opponent's shoulder. The dragon roared in pain as the monster sunk its teeth deeper and deeper in. Cynthia activated another PokéBall and released another Pokémon.

"Gastrodon use Crunch." The large pink and brown slug like Pokémon advanced towards the opponent and bit down on its tail before throwing it into the fence. As it collided with the fence there was a tremendous crash and a great amount of dust was lifted into the air.

When the dust from the impact cleared it revealed that the Antimon was gone. All that was left was a pile of black dust that was blown away quickly by the winds, but not before a shriek like roar echoed through the air.

"That's not good." Cynthia commented worryingly as she ran over to inspect her Garchomp's wound. The bite seemed to have been severe but Cynthia knew it was not, despite this she called her dragon type back to her PokéBall.

"What's not good?" Freesia asked her guest anxiously.

"That was a call to let the others know where to attack." Freesia ran back into the mansion calling up and down the corridors for Salvia.

Eventually other Antimon arrived; Cynthia counted at least ten others who came. This was odd to the champion as she counted only six Chaos Balls hovering around Darkrai. it was at that moment that she realized that the Chaos Balls didn't contain Antimon, they summoned the evil essence from the Distortion World and shaped it into various Pokémon. Whichever Pokémon Darkrai decided for combat.

Cynthia didn't stay to fight them; she entered the estate looking for the princess. Finally Salvia ran out to meet Cynthia in the hallway.

"Cynthia what is happening outside?" Cynthia was grateful to see the Suzerain unharmed but she needed to still be safe.

"The mansion is being attacked you must leave Arrowroot Town immediately." Cynthia explained. Salvia was not going to just ruin away from a threat.

"No, get the citizens out of the town and then I will leave." Salvia protested.

"Your highness we don't have much time, these things are coming for you." Freesia persisted. Their pleads were short lived as the sound of hissing soon came from the staircase.

"We're out of time, get moving." Cynthia ordered the princess firmly as she released her Gastrodon, Glaceon and Lucario from their PokéBalls. She stopped and placed an odd looking Keystone on Salvia's desk before charging into battle.

Cynthia and her three Pokémon companions began to make their way down the stairs but were stopped by an Anti Staraptor, an Anti Sceptile, an Anti Empoleon and an Anti Houndoom on their way up the stairs. Lucario acted first swinging its leg up and kicking the Anti Houndoom square in its jaws. The servant of Giratina reacted by swinging its clawed hand and struck Lucario sending it flying over the edge of the stairs and crashing to the floor below.

The Anti Empoleon and Anti Staraptor began to head straight towards Lucario just as it was getting back on its feet. Desperately the aura Pokémon began to fire Aura Spheres at its enemies, but they proved to be of little effect.

"Lucario get out of there now while there's still time!" Cynthia shouted down towards her Pokémon.

The creatures closed in around Lucario and prepared to lunge at him but they were stopped by a blast of fire that sent the two of them flying against the wall Cynthia recognized this as the Flamethrower attack of a Pokémon. She looked out through the open door to see Princess Salvia standing there alongside of an Arcanine.

"Another reason I wanted to stay behind is that I can take care of myself." Salvia explained. The Anti Sceptile and Houndoom turned their heads to see the girl they were after and they began to move in on her.

"Glaceon use Ice Beam." Cynthia called out to her frosty Pokémon.

Glaceon did as it was supposed to do; it fired a highly concentrated blast of energy straight at its opponents. The impact from the Brine struck five Antimon just entering from the ceiling and sent them tumbling to the ground, frozen solid.

Salvia called on her flaming canine Pokémon, "Arcanine use Flamethrower again." Arcanine then let loose another stream of fire from its mouth that collided with two Antimon and sent them flying into the other two who were just recovering from the last Flamethrower attack.

Cynthia and Salvia both saw that they were greatly affecting the beasts' attacks with their combined fighting force. Salvia was amazed to see herself in the middle of a battle. She had never felt this much excitement before. She felt more like Dawn than she ever did before. Salvia knew this was it; they were going to win this battle against these demonic freaks. But her enthusiasm was short lived. An Anti Lickitung snuck out from behind Cynthia as she was commanding her Pokémon during the battle and stuck out its extremely long tongue which went down through the already damaged stairs and pulled up again out through the stairs with great power, destroying all the stairs at the same time and sending Cynthia flying over the edge.

The champion fell quite a few feet before she collided with a wooden cabinet. The force of the impact caused the cabinet to break and splinter into many pieces. Gastrodon tried to assist its trainer but was knocked unconscious after be hit against the back of its head by the tail of an Anti Charizard.

"Arcanine, help Cynthia." Salvia commanded her ally. Before Arcanine could attack it was lifted into the air, in the jaws of an Anti Gyarados that came at them from behind, and thrown against the wall and it too fell unconscious. Salvia began to back away from the approaching reinforcements but soon began to find herself begin boxed in as the creatures began to come at her from all sides. Soon she found herself and Cynthia surrounded by a dozen Antimon. As Cynthia was preparing to stand up, an Anti Tyrannitar swung its foot down and it collided with her back forcing her back to the ground.

Inside the ring of Antimon, a lone shadow on the floor , unattached to any object, approached Salvia. Salvia began to tremble with terror as Darkrai rose out from the shadow and towered over his prey.

"The last Priestess, and of royalty. It is no wonder Arceus selected you; his vanity knows no limits." The nightmare bringer said to his victim. His words seemed to confuse Salvia just as much as his presence intimidated her.

"What do you mean 'The last Priestess'?" She asked him nervously. Darkrai's patience had seemed to run out.

"Do not play games with me human! You know what I refer to! Unless…" As soon as he finished speaking he came immediately came to a sudden realization.

Darkrai forcefully pulled back Salvia's hair looked at her forehead hoping to find the symbol of the Creation Trio. Desperately hoping to please Giratina by bringing him the Guardian Priestess. When Darkrai looked at Salvia he realized he was so very wrong. Darkrai knew this could mean that Giratina would kill him; angrily he lashed out at the Antimon.

"You fools! This is the wrong girl! Now because of this blunder we could be days behind the real Priestess!" Just as he finished berating his minions, the lights in the mansion began to go out, leaving nothing but darkness and silence.

That silence was soon interrupted by a pair of glowing red eyes that appeared high above Darkrai. Soon Giratina's dark rumbling voice began to come out of nowhere.

"Do not blame the soldiers for improper leadership Darkrai." Darkrai lowered his hovering form towards the ground and bowed his head in respect to his master.

"Forgive me master." Darkrai begged.

"I sent you to Arrowroot Town because it would be where the champion was going." Giratina explained as the two eyes hovered over towards Cynthia, still pinned under the foot of the Anti Tyrannitar.

"She knows the location of the real priestess." Giratina further explained. "Don't fail me." With that, the red eyes disappeared and the lights went back on.

Darkrai turned and hovered towards Cynthia as she looked up to her captor. The Antimon began to hiss at different pitches and frequencies, as though they were maniacally laughing.

"Tell me where the Guardian Priestess is and I might consider sparing your worthless life." Darkrai commanded. Cynthia stood her ground.

"If you kill me, then you'll lose your best lead." Darkrai was getting agitated but saw another alternative. He gestured to an Anti Arbok behind him. The creature wrapped Salvia with its thick coils and brought the princess close towards its wide open jaws, fangs extending out like a cobra.

"I'll ask you once more and once more only, where is the Priestess?" Darkrai demanded.

Cynthia knew that the fate of the world would hang on Dawn's mission so she couldn't just tell Darkrai where she was, but she also wouldn't sacrifice Salvia either.

"Even if I do tell you, how do you know I won't just lie to protect Salvia?" Cynthia explained, thus furthering complications.

Darkrai knew she was right; she could've easily lied and gotten away with it, and if he killed Salvia then she would have no reason to tell him. Darkrai was running out of ideas, but fortunately for him Cynthia had reminded him of one of his moves that would give him and advantage,

"Then I'll just make sure you don't lie to me" He answered smiling.

The Tyrannitar impostor holding Cynthia captive lifted its foot off her. She looked up weakly, to see Darkrai hovering towards her. Cynthia was now only inches away from Darkrai's face and terror began to overwhelm her.

Darkrai's eyes began to form a spiraling ring of dark energy around them. He began speaking very softly to his prisoner.

"You would keep secrets from your enemies, but not from someone like me, someone you would trust with your life."

Cynthia's terrified expression was soon replaced by an expression of drowsiness. Her iris' and pupils began to change to a red, her eyelids became extremely heavy to her and she could barely keep her eyes open as she looked into Darkrai's glowing eyes. But the greatest change was happening in her mind; suddenly everything Darkrai was saying to her was true, he was someone she would trust with anything in the world, even her life. He was kind, gentle and warm to her. So why should she keep secrets from someone who was so close to her.

"Don't Cynthia! You must fight him!" Salvia pleaded. Her words ended with a large gasp as the Anti Arbok looped another coil around her mouth and neck squeezing tightly, impairing her ability to speak.

"You can tell me anything in the world can't you?" Darkrai asked his entranced victim.

"Yes I can." Cynthia replied in a very tired voice. Darkrai smiled at his helpless captive, her will was strong but not strong enough for his Hypnosis. This was one thing she failed to take into consideration as she had become his hypnotized prisoner.

"Now then, why don't you tell me where the Guardian Priestess is?" Darkrai recommended.


	7. Chapter 6

"On this episode of May's Expedition, we find our heroes venturing deep into the heart of the Eterna Forest in search of the fabled Golden Tree which will lead them to the mysterious Palace of Light. Their mission; to seek the Palace of Light and awaken the king of Pokémon Arceus, and end the reign of the evil Giratina."

"May, I'm not asking you, I'm telling you" Red said before he stormed over to May and shouted into her ear, "SHUT UP!"

Ash and his friend had been wandering through the Eterna Forest for hours searching for the Golden Tree, to no prevail. The forest was huge it did not surprise Ash that it was taking them this long to find the tree. All six trainers, Pikachu, Piplup and Azurill were exhausted from the wandering without a break. Eventually they found a small opening from which to rest their feet.

"You'd think that a magical floating tree would be easy to find, even in a forest this big." Brock commented as he sat down to rest on the soft grass. The others followed suit and sat down to rest, Ash did not sit down so much as he threw himself to the ground and just began to lie there.

"We've been going around in circles, I swear I've seen that rock that looks like a Snorlax three times already" He complained.

Misty looked at her friend with a semi annoyed expression, "Ash that is Snorlax and you've seen it three times because Red has let it out of its PokéBall three times to stretch its legs" Ash just let loose an aggravated grunt as she threw her head to the ground again.

"We're going to die in here" He declared.

May tried her best to lift his spirits, "Come on Ash that's what they said at the Alamo." Ash reared half his body up and frowned at his friend.

"And they did die!" He shouted "They were massacred by a bazillion angry Mexicans!"

Dawn was more distressed than stressed, "To make things worse; my meditations that told us where the tree was have stopped since we got to the forest." On the way to the Eterna Forest, Dawn kept meditating to find the quickest way there from Celestic Town. Each time she meditated the same vision she had in Celestic Town would flash before her mind's eyes.

"Without those visions it could take us days or even weeks to find the Golden Tree." Brock remarked.

"Come on, we can't give up here!" Misty angrily commented, "We've barely started!"

"She's right, we'll follow the trail that we blaze!" May declared. As they began walking through the underbrush she began singing a familiar song.

_Look out new world here we come  
Brave, intrepid and then some  
Pioneers of maximum  
Audacity whose resumes_

_Show that we are just the team  
To live where others merely dream  
Building up a head of steam  
On the trail we blaze_

_Changing legend into fact  
We shall ride into history  
Turning myth into truth  
We shall surely gaze_

_On the sweet unfolding  
Of an antique mystery  
All will be revealed  
On the trail we blaze_

_Paradise is close at hand  
Shangri-La the promised land  
Seventh heaven on demand  
Quite unusual nowadays_

_Virgin vistas, undefiled  
Minds and bodies running wild  
In the man behold the child  
On the trail we blaze_

_The trail we blaze is a road uncharted  
Through terra incognita to a golden shrine  
No place for the traveler to be faint-hearted  
We are part of the sumptuous grand design_

_Changing legend into fact  
We shall ride into history  
Turning myth into truth  
We shall surely gaze_

_On the sweet unfolding  
Of an antique mystery  
All will be revealed  
On the trail we blaze_

May's singing then stopped and she, Ash and Red came to a vast open clearing before the others, yet there was nothing there.

"Where's the tree? We should've been lead straight to the Golden Tree." May questioned herself.

"It didn't work; maybe you should've sung something different." Ash suggested. Dawn, Brock and Misty finally made their way to the others when dawn said something truly baffling.

"I see it." She exclaimed with joy.


	8. Chapter 7

Dawn's friends looked at her as though she was insane. How could she see the Golden Tree when none of them could. Dawn looked out at the vast opening and then back to her friends.

"How could you guys not see it?" Dawn asked them with shock and surprise, "It's huge."

Misty rolled her eyes and walked up to her. Even Piplup looked at Dawn with disbelief.

"Dawn there's nothing there; maybe the song sequence has caused you to start seeing things."

Red was also beginning to question her sanity until he developed a theory all his own, "Maybe anyone other than a Guardian Priestess can't see it or feel it."

Red's theory was correct. The Golden tree was right in front of them and it was as huge as a lighthouse that sits on the shore. And as the legends told, it was made out of solid gold. Carefully Dawn approached it weary as to what could happen if she did something careless.

"Carolina told me that a Guardian Priestess is capable of lifting curses so maybe I can lift the curse so you guys can see it." Dawn explained.

Carefully Dawn gently placed her hand on the trunk of the ever large monument, but she was not sure what to do. As soon as she placed her hand on the tree, it began to illuminate a blinding yellow light. This light was something that even the other five could see. After several seconds of blinding light, the light dispersed, and Ash looked up to see a colossal Golden Tree and Dawn standing right before it looking like an peasant in the presence of a god.

"That was so cool" Ash complimented his friend as he and the others approached her.

Brock looked at the tree and saw writing on it, "Guys come look at this." He called out. As they came up to where Brock was standing, one by one they began to look at the writing, this writing was not in an ancient language but in English.

May read the words out loud, "From walls so high and spikes so long we emerge from the earth. Though many of us remained hidden, here we stand with our Iron Legs."

"It's a riddle, now of all times?" Misty asked aggravated.

"This must be another tactic to ensure that no one other than the Guardian Priestess could find the Palace of Light." Brock theorized.

"Walls so high and spikes so long, what does that mean?" May asked out loud.

"It could be a fortress." Dawn suggested.

"But what about the Iron Legs?" Ash asked, "That must be the key to the riddle. Legs support the body, and iron could refer to the legs being strong or representing something firm or a strong belief."

"So what we're looking for is a place that has strong beliefs and supports something very important to the world." Dawn concluded.

"A research laboratory." Brock stated.

Misty just looked at her lady loving friend, "A mall, a beach house, a restaurant. See I can do it too."

Brock just glared at her and continued to speak.

"No, I mean a Pokémon research Laboratory, like Professor Oak's."

"But then how does that refer to supporting civilization?" Misty asked.

Red remembered what Iron Legs meant and looked at his Alphadex to see if his suspicions are true.

"What about this?" He started as he read from the encyclopedia, "Metagross the Iron Leg Pokémon."

That shattered all their theories but helped Dawn to remember a place named in honor of this specific Pokémon.

"The Metagross Mountain" She concluded.

"That's brilliant" Ash reasoned, "The mountain is so twisted and warped that it would be easy to hide a monument there without anyone finding it."

Brock pulled a map out of his backpack of the Sinnoh Region and began to search for the mountains.

"Here it is, the mountain is day's walk away, and from where we are we should get to the village at the base mountains by tomorrow evening." Brock instructed.

"Then let's hurry" Red concluded, "I have a feeling, we're being watched."


	9. Chapter 8

Giratina had flown around the same giant crystal for the last couple of days. It was through this crystal that he could watch the Pokémon world and open portals to it, but only in reflective surfaces and dark places. The Guardian Priestess was being wise as to avoid such areas to evade his gaze. This frustrated him; this would mean that he was forced to rely on Darkrai and his Antimon children to be his eyes for him.

The dark lord knew that the countdown to the final battle had begun and any hope of winning that fight would depend on his soldiers of darkness finding the Guardian Priestess so that he himself may be freed from this ghastly imprisonment. Grimly Giratina looked at his reflection in the crystal and said to himself, "When the great shadows fall, the mortal world will fall to my will."

An all too familiar voice called out to Giratina from behind him, "Not if this battle does not happen." Giratina turned around to see a golden orb of light hovering in front of his face. He knew just what this was and what it represented.

"Arceus" Giratina said to it, "Like me you are a prisoner in your realm therefore you cannot destroy me." Giratina smiled as he looked at the orb, he knew what Arceus sent it for, "You've come to appeal to my rotten soul."

The orb continued to speak as Arceus communicated through it, "We both know that this battle does not have to unfold, cast aside your sins and we can be a brotherhood as we once were." Giratina was not pleased with what the Arceus was saying.

"As we once were, with me as an outcast while you spread propaganda that I was a monster." The orb continued to pulsate with bright lights as Arceus continued his plead.

"The power I blessed you with began to corrupt you, I feared for the worst, to protect the reality that we created."

Giratina looked back at the orb and was ready to protest against his creator, "Do not lie to me! You feared that I would be praised by humans instead of you, you became terrified that humans would see that I am the better being, so you banished me, then you whispered lies of me into the ears of man."

The chaotic dragon began to fly around the orb as he spoke through it to Arceus, "You knew the power I held, you knew just what I could do with the power of chaos. When I became more powerful, you exiled me away, so I could never harm your precious children, as though I was a poison or a plague. When I finally decided to write your wrongs against me, you killed this world and made me its prisoner. I used to awaken every morning and gaze upon the grass fields and watch as the wind breezes through it, I would watch the sun set into the abyss and I remember that feeling of joy as day changed to night. Now there is no sun in this world, no plants, buildings have become crumbled ruins and the air is stagnant with death. You killed my home and have showed no remorse for it!"

The orb was not glowing as bright as it was before, symbolizing Arceus' sorrow at knowing Giratina was right to an extent. "The death of your world was not my fault, it was your actions during the great war that destroyed the Reverse World. But for the last thousand years I have been plagued by nightmares of my failure. I did not wish to see any of this happen, my hope was that an exile to the Reverse World would help you exercise your powers and return to us, all I ever wanted to do was protect you." Giratina hissed at the orb when he heard his creator speak.

"Protect me? From myself? I never needed to be protected from myself I needed to be protected from YOU!" Giratina roared at Arceus through the orb. This roar was only the beginning of what Giratina had to say, "You tried to keep me ignorant of the power I was granted, the power to destroy. You wanted to keep me, Palkia and Dialga ignorant of humanity's arrogance and corruption. Now I know why I was given these powers." Giratina spun around and faced the orb straight and forward.

"The Platinum Wars were only delayed, never stopped." Giratina stated. The orb began glowing brightly again, resembling Arceus' fear.

"Giratina don't do this." Arceus began to speak, before being interrupted.

"Once free, I will do what I should've done a thousand years ago."

"Son please!" Arceus tried to protest but was cut off again as Giratina reared up to make himself look bigger as he flayed his six wings on his back.

"And there will be screams of terror and cries of pain throughout the mortal world like never seen before."

"Enough!" Arceus shouted, only for his creation to continue to speak.

"And this will herald the coming of a new world, a world built in my image!" Giratina shouted triumphantly. He then roared in triumph, a roar that was bloodcurdling and could be heard for miles around. The golden orb then returned to his very dull glow, Arceus fell to depression again.

"You've done this to yourself Giratina." With this warning sated, the orb then disappeared, leaving Giratina alone in the Distortion World. The sinister creature chuckled to himself, amused at Arceus' desperate attempt to prevent the battle to come. To him this meant that Arceus was still weak from the Platinum Wars, easy for Giratina to kill him.

"The future will be mine, even without the Guardian Priestess." He said to himself as he resumed his post around the giant crystal waiting for the Priestess and her little friends to come within his grasp. All was going according to plan.


	10. Chapter 9

A day of travelling and Ash and his friends had finally arrived at a small town at the base of the Metagross Mountain. Like any small town in the Pokémon World, this one was quant and charming, it seemed to have the same esthetic as a small town from Colorado. The mountain was enormous and completely covered the sky in the back, clouding out the sun and casting a vast shadow over half the town.

"It's not safe here." Red reasoned, "When the sun sets and that shadow stretches over the entire town, Giratina will be able to see us."

They all knew that he was right. But this would be a very much needed stop.

"You're right Red, staying here is dangerous, but our Pokémon are exhausted from travelling." Misty explained, "We need to stay here for the night just to rest." Red could not make any objections to her point.

So the six trainers went to the nearest motel to check in for the night so they could get an early start in the morning. The motel they picked was called Rhyhorn Motel, most obviously due to the large stone statue of a Rhyhorn that was in front of the main building, in the centre of a small garden. They checked out two rooms; Ash, Brock and Red would take one while Dawn, Misty and May were in the other one.

As the sun began to set over the mountain, the long shadow it cast began to stretch out even further before the entire town was engulfed in total darkness. For fear of Giratina's powers, May thought that it would be wise to keep lights on in their rooms to ensure that Giratina could not spy on them. No one was ready to disagree with her on that logical idea. Red was nervous; he knew Giratina would try something to get to Dawn. So he volunteered to stay outside on the balcony as a watchman.

The hours passed that night, Dawn could not get any sleep. The fear of her failing on this most dire mission and the fear of a dark force hunting them, constantly hung around in her mind. The multitude of lights on in her room didn't help either, how Misty and May were asleep was beyond her. But it was mainly her fear that kept her awake through the night. What made her so special that Arceus would choose her to become a Guardian Priestess, and what if she failed to find the Palace of Light, or if Giratina got to her or her friends? She tried her best to shake these thoughts from her head but they persisted to remain.

Dawn decided it would be best to step outside for a moment, get some fresh air and check on Red to see if he was still awake. Gently, Dawn tip toed past Misty, May, Piplup and the other sleeping Pokémon as not to wake them. Slowly she stretched her hand out towards the door and opened it, she peered her head out through the small opening she made to see if she could find her old friend. She saw him, and it looked to her as though he was asleep on the balcony, alongside Chars and Pika.

Deciding not to wake him, Dawn stepped out of her motel room and walked across to the rails at the edge of the balcony, where she looked up in awe at the great Metagross Mountain that overlooked the town. Only Mount Coronet, hiding place of Spear Pillar, could compare to this mountain in the sense of majesty and awe. Hidden on that mountain, whether outside or in, lurked the next monument that would lead them closer to the Palace of Light.

"And I'm going to find it no matter how long it takes." Dawn said to herself quietly yet boldly, before a wave of logic crashed down upon her, "Which might take decades knowing my luck."

"I thought no one was to leave their rooms unless of an emergency." Red said to her as he stood up from pretending to be asleep.

"You try going to sleep with thousands of lights blaring down on you." Dawn said as she turned around to face him, "Now I know why you chose to stay on look out, this way you could sleep better."

It was now that Dawn saw that Red didn't have his shirt on. This revealed to Dawn that not only did Red's experiences give him very chiseled features (Not as much as Brock's rock hard features) but a body littered with scars. These scars showed Dawn the long and arduous journey Red must have taken to become a Pokémon Master. What stood out most to Dawn was the enormous scar on the top right side of his chest. He must've received a wound like that on Cinnabar island. She wanted to bring up his damaged form, but she did not want to open old wounds.

"What are you doing out here?" Red asked hoping to change the conversation.

"It's nothing Red." Dawn answered quickly as she turned to head back to her room. Red knew she was lying by her expression.

"Dawn, you know I can tell when you're lying." Red argued. The young coordinator/priestess turned back to face her friend and began to explain herself truthfully.

"I just don't feel like I really deserve to be a Guardian Priestess."

"You're nervous; you should be." Red answered tenderly.

"Yeah but what makes me so special that I become a priestess." Dawn explained, "I mean I'm not a Gym Leader like Misty, or gentle like May. I'm just a clumsy coordinator who's never won a Grand Festival. So what makes me so special?"

"Arceus thinks that you are pure enough to be given all the responsibilities of a holy woman. That's because he sees something in you that not even you have found yet." Red argued

"But if I don't know what makes me unique, than how can I hope to become a full Guardian Priestess?" Dawn continued with her self-doubt.

"You'll have to discover that for yourself." Red concluded.

Dawn was proud to see that at least Red's determination hadn't changed at all in the past six years. She was just about to get ready to return to her room when she remembered the blinding lights that emanated from it constantly due to their worries of falling under Giratina's vigil.

"I'm just going to stay out here, maybe I'll actually get some sleep." Dawn said before she slumped to the ground.

Red remained awake twenty minutes longer waiting for Dawn to fall asleep. Once he saw her close her eyes and lay her head softly on the pillow Red placed for her to rest on. Red sat on the ground and fell asleep himself.


	11. Chapter 10

As the night pressed on, light of the crescent moon gazed down over the Eterna Forest. Revealing raging fires that danced through the trees coupled with the panicked cries of tapped Pokémon. These fires were not caused by any natural causes or by any accident; this was the work of Darkrai.

The dark one stalked through the forest, leaving a blazing trail of fire and destruction behind him. It did not matter what he had to do as long as he reached his destination; the Golden Tree at the centre of the forest that an entranced Cynthia told him about.

After nearly failing once, he was not willing to fail Giratina once again. He knew just what the punishment would be if he failed the Renegade Pokémon. It was pain that no being could ever endure, how Darkrai survived was a mystery even to him. He was only kept alive because Giratina still had need for him. Even though he knew he would survive Giratina's rage he still refused to fail him.

It was not just fear that kept Darkrai loyal to Giratina, he was in his dept. Giratina offered Darkrai great power once before, in exchange for his loyalty. With nothing else left Darkrai had to except his offer and now served him since before the Platinum Wars. Darkrai's anger and hatred for humanity compelled him to keep serving Giratina with great pleasure.

The Pitch Black Pokémon's reminiscing was cut off by a bright glow coming from a clearing right in front of him. The phantom being pushed aside two bushes in front of him and saw the Golden Tree he was after. Darkrai grinned at the sight of the tree and how simple it was for him to find the tree. It was clear that the Guardian Priestess had yet learned to place curses, therefore she could not conceal the monuments again.

"Now we shall see where you are Priestess." Darkrai commented as he hovered towards the tree to decipher the riddle on the trunk of the tree. It was not that difficult for Darkrai to decipher.

"Our Iron Legs… The Metagross Mountain." Darkrai translated. He knew how far away the mountain was and by then, the Guardian Priestess would've already been long on her way to finding the next monument.

Darkrai had another idea, return to the Distortion World. From there he would ask Giratina to open a portal outside of the mountain and from there, ambush the Priestess. His plan set, Darkrai returned to the earth becoming nothing more than a shadow on the ground and began hovering out of the forest to the lake that was outside the forest. His plan was bound to succeed, there was no way he could fail. The Guardian Priestess would soon be his.

"Be very afraid Priestess." Darkrai said to himself. "I'm coming for you."


	12. Chapter 11

The morning sun rose over the small town below Metagross Mountain. As the first glimpse of sunlight peered through the window, May stirred before finally rising from her nightly slumber. As she rose from her bed she looked to see that Misty was already fully awake and dressed.

"How long have you been up?" May asked.

"About half an hour." Misty replied. Just as she finished, Dawn stepped out of the bathroom fully dressed as well. Before they could go any further into this discussion, Ash and Pikachu burst into their room frantic and nervous.

"You guys have to grab your stuff and come down to the lobby, you need to see this." Ash explained just before the two ran out the door. Misty, and Dawn grabbed their PokéBalls, and bags and ran after him with Piplup and Azurill following close behind, while May gathered her belongings and ran for the bathroom herself. The two girls arrived in the lobby to see Red, Squirtle and Brock were already there watching the TV screen built into the wall.

On the screen they could see the TV reporter Rhonda, talking about a raging fire that broke out in the Eterna Forest. She stated that the fire came from unknown origins and decimated half the forest. Many Pokémon were trapped and would've perished were it not for a team of Pokémon Rangers passing by.

"We were just in that forest two days ago." Dawn stated.

"I'll bet Giratina's behind that fire." Red commented.

"He must've figured out we were there before, and started the fire thinking we were still there." Brock deduced. May ran into the lobby carrying her backpack.

"What is it? What's wrong?" May asked nervously.

"There was a fire at the Eterna Forest just last night." Misty answered.

"And we think Giratina was behind that fire." Dawn finished.

"But how he figured out we were there is the bigger question." Ash commented.

"Let's get moving we have to get into the mountain and find the monument fast." Red instructed.

The six trainers gathered all their belongings and set off for the mountain. The closer they got to it, the larger and larger it became, and the more and more distressed they felt.

"It could take us weeks to find the monument up there, especially when we don't know what we're after." Dawn moaned.

"Then we'd better get started." Brock commented.

They finally approached the mountain and here they finally saw just how colossal elaborate the mountain truly was, something they could never have seen when they first entered the town below the mountain. Suddenly a sense of great realization came to them, Dawn was right, it would take them at least weeks to find the monument, at least if they stay in one group.

"It looked a lot smaller from a distance" May commented, an a surprised voice.

"The best way to find it is to form three teams." Red stated.

"But how are we supposed to find the monument if Dawn is the only one who can see or feel them?" Brock asked. Red was stumped; Brock was right about that, Dawn was the only one who could truly find the monument.

"What if we take photos of wide open spaces on the mountain with our Pokégears and then send them to Dawn." Misty recommended.

"Yeah, and whichever one of us gets it right, sends their location to the others." Dawn concluded.

"Okay, but now we have to divide into our groups." Ash said.

"In that case, Piplup and I will go with Misty and Azurill." Dawn answered as she held her blue penguin in her arms.

"I'll go with Ash and Pikachu" Red reasoned.

"Then I guess Brock and I are a team." May concluded.

"Does everyone have each other's numbers?" Brock asked. Everyone checked their Pokégears before nodding their heads in agreement.

"Then let's get moving." Ash said as the three groups began to walk in three different directions.

The hours passed, each of the teams had searched all over the mountain, whether inside or out and to no avail, Dawn's photo gallery on her Pokégear was filled with pictures of empty spaces, none of which yielded any signs of the monument at all. As the sun began to set, the mountain began to become shrouded in darkness, and things began to stir.

Red, Ash, and Pikachu had climbed out of a cave when they began to climb down the steep ledge that was six feet away from the mouth of the cave as they continued their search through the mountains.

"My legs feel like breadsticks." Ash moaned as he trudged along. Red refused to complain about his throbbing feet, he believed it only made him weaker.

"We have to keep moving, we need to find that monument before sundown."Red explained.

"Look!" Ash shouted as he pointed forward. Red looked up in alarm to see a creature running over a small rise in front of them.

"What was that?" Ash asked, as he slowly began to walk towards its location.

"Wait, Ash." Red grabbed Ash's shoulder to prevent him from walking any further. "We can't forget why we're here, it could be a trap by Giratina."

"Maybe it's a trainer's Pokémon." Ash reasoned with great assurance, "Besides, one little look won't hurt."

As Ash began advancing on the mysterious creature, Pikachu followed him.

As they slowly advanced over the hill, they looked to see the bizarre creature standing in the middle of a new clearing in the rock. Red was right; the creature was huge, Of course Feraligatrs are quite huge, but this one was different. The Pokémon was entirely black except for its red spines and its eyes that glowed an emotionless orange. Everything about this creature was intimidating to them, from its frightening claws and sharp teeth, to the very way it moved.

The two trainers and their Pokémon crouched down as not to be detected by it. Red held up his Pokégear and took a picture of it and the clearing it was in. He sent the picture to Dawn while Ash held up his Pokédex to better identify the creature. All the Pokédex said was "Input invalid, please try again."

Red's Pokégear began ringing; frantically Red looked at it and saw that Dawn was calling him. He pressed the answer button and began to whisper into the device.

"Dawn, you'll have to keep your voice down, is the monument here?" Red asked. Through the device dawn began to speak to him in a whisper.

"Unfortunately no Red, but you guys should get out of there. I don't know why but when I saw that creature in the picture, I sensed something evil." Red was fearfully shocked; this must've been the creature that burned down the Eterna Forest under Giratina's influence.

"Ash, listen to this." Red said to his new friend as he held the Pokégear to his ear. "Say again Dawn." With Red's request acknowledged, Dawn spoke again.

"I said I sensed evil when I saw that creature." Dawn replied.

The Antimon smelled the rocky ground looking for the Guardian Priestess. Her scent was not here, but there was the scent of other humans, and they were close by. The demon looked up to see two human males of young age looking right at it. The beast knew that these creatures would either tell Darkrai where the Priestess was, or they would make a feast for it.

Red looked fearfully at Ash with only one thing to say, "I think we should leave now."

Ash was quick to answer him, "Yeah, yeah I think that's a great idea."

The two trainers and their Pokémon looked down to see the Anti Feraligatr was looking right at them and then let out a powerful shrill roar into the air before charging at its prey.


	13. Chapter 12

Ash and Red just jumped out of the way of the massive jaws before grabbing their Pokémon and making a run for it. As they ran Red called Dawn back and began shouting into his Pokégear.

"Dawn, get off the mountain now!" Red shouted.

"Red, what's happening?" Dawn asked frantically.

"NOW!" Red shouted more desperately.

The two trainers and Pikachu kept running as the Anti Feraligatr kept racing after them. Ash could hear the creature's claws on its feet scraping along the ground and the sound of it snorting as it got closer. None of them wanted to look back believing it would only slow their running down. Their running came to a complete stop when they reached the large rock wall. All four of them looked behind them to see the Antimon simply standing there. The beast let loose a hissing sound that sounded almost like it was laughing. Ash and Pikachu were not going down without a fight.

"Pikachu use Iron Tail." Ash commanded. Pikachu lunged into the air and swung his silver glowing tail towards the Evil Feraligatr bent on striking it unconscious with one hit.

But the monster moved faster and swung its massive head against the small Pokémon and sent him flying back towards the other two. Pikachu then struck the ground with great force, kicking up dust upon impact.

"Pikachu!" Ash shouted as he ran over to inspect his small friend. Luckily for him Pikachu was okay, But Ash was not going to take any risks anymore, and pulled Pikachu out of the fight. Red did nothing of the sorts; he pulled a PokéBall off his belt and opened it, releasing his Charizard.

"Chars use Air Slash!" Red instructed his Pokémon. Chars took to the sky, he began flapping his wings forward forcefully, releasing several ninja stars made of wind towards the Anti Feraligatr.

The Air Slash flew straight towards the Anti Feraligatr, but the creature moved quickly and dodged the attack right before impact. The monster opened its mouth and released a beam of pure shadow energy from its mouth. Chars just narrowly dodged the attack but as he did, the creature was readying a second Shadow Beam, which flew straight and hit Chars right in the chest and sent him spiraling to the ground.

"Chars are you all right?" Red asked his oldest Pokémon friend. The powerful Fire Type checked to make sure the stone on his necklace was still intact before he staggered to get back on his feet as he stared at the beast with fury in his eyes.

"Chars return." Red instructed as he called him back to his PokéBall not willing to allow the creature to injure his Pokémon any further.

The Antimon slowly began to advance forward. It held out its claws and reared its tail up as a sign of preparing to attack. Red, Ash and Pikachu were backed against the wall. To Ash it seemed like there would be no getting out of this one. If Dawn was smart she would be off the mountain and back in town by now, so there would be no reinforcements coming their way. And if Pikachu and Chars couldn't stand up against this monster then probably none of their Pokémon could.

"Well, it's been nice knowing you Red." Ash said to his ally.

"Feelings mutual." Red responded.

Just as they were sure death was about to claim them, two rope ends came from over the edge right in front of their faces. Both of them looked up to see Misty and May looking down at them.

"Get up here already!" Misty shouted angrily at the two young men.

The false Feraligatr leaped at them, but once again Ash and Red were too quick as it overestimated its leap and collided with the mountain wall and fell dazed to the ground. Frantically the two trainers grabbed onto the rope and began to climb up it, with Pikachu clinging to Ash's backpack. The two of them made reached the end of the rope where they were reunited with the other four trainers, Azurill and Piplup.

"I told you to get off the mountain Dawn!" Red angrily berated to his oldest friend.

"And what, let you get eaten by that thing?" Dawn protested with a smile on her face.

"How did you know we would be here?" Ash asked, not addressing a single one of them with his question.

"Dawn quickly called us after you warned her and we headed straight to her location to help you guys out." Brock explained.

"Good timing, we saved your life Red" May commented as she moved in close to him, "Are you alright?"

Before Red could answer, the sound of metal scraping along rock began to echo off the rock wall below them. Ash, Misty and dawn looked over the edge to see the Anti Feraligatr sticking its claws into the side of the mountain and heaving its massive weight upward.

"It's climbing up the side of the wall!" Dawn shouted to the others.

"Into the caves!" Red shouted. One by one they entered the caverns running straight through without looking back. As the last of them (Brock) finally made it in they all stopped at the sound of a terrible shriek and looked out to see the Feraligatr standing on the ledge looking right at them.

"Geodude, use Mega Punch and bring down the cave opening!" Brock shouted as he released Geodude from its PokéBall.

The two fisted Rock Type swung its massive hands against the mouth of the cave, causing rocks to cascade around it sealing the entrance to the cave. After the sound of rocks tumbling around them and Geodude returning to its PokéBall, the cave fell silent and pitch black, with the exception of the hissing sound of an agitated Antimon on the outside of the caves.

"Quilava come on out!" Dawn shouted as she released Quilava from its PokéBall. The small fire on its back created a small amount of light, not enough though for them to see the inside of the cave.

"Infernape I choose you!" Ash yelled as Infernape jumped from its PokéBall. The Primate like Fire Type used the fires from its head that light up the rest of the environment around them.

"Let's keep going, that thing is bound to break through the rocks." Red recommended.

The team pressed on through the caves for a short period before approaching a three way fork in the tunnels. Infernape and Quilava waved their flames around into each tunnel looking for any sign of light.

"Ash, you took these caves, which way is out?" Misty asked her boyfriend.

Ash began to look through each tunnel hoping to find anything sign of that they were there, but to no prevail.

"You don't know which way leads out?"Misty asked in an aggravated tone.

"You had to have taken these caves to, and you don't know which way leads out!" Ash protested.

As Ash and Misty kept arguing Red, Dawn and Brock tried to separate them, while May stepped towards one cave shining a flash light into it.

"Guys I think this is the way out!" May shouted to the others.

The others turned to see her, but their gaze quickly turned to something far more terrifying in the tunnel.

"May look out!" Dawn shouted.

Just as she finished speaking, an Anti Druddigon lunged out of the darkness and tackled May to the ground. Her screams of terror filled the entire caves as the beast towered over her ready to dispatch its helpless captive.

"Infernape use Mach Punch!" Ash instructed his Pokémon.

Infernape charged at the corrupt Druddigon and struck the terrible monster square in the jaws with its powerful fist throwing it off the helpless Hoenn coordinator.

"Pikachu Thunderbolt!" Ash instructed, as Pikachu jumped into the air and released a blast of ten thousand volts of electricity from its body striking the dragon once more and sending it flying down the tunnel it came from.

"Infernape use Mach Punch, this time on the walls of that tunnel!" Ash commanded his Pokémon again. Infernape did just as it was told and punched the walls with enough force that the tunnel collapsed. Just as the Anti Druddigon was about to lunge out of the cavern, Infernape used Mach Punch again, this time on the Antimon, pushing back into the collapsing tunnel.

Ash helped May back onto her feet and then he saw a slash mark on her upper arm from when the Anti Druddigon tackled her to the ground.

"Are you okay May?" Ash asked pointing to her wound. May looked at the bloody slash wound that just grazed the black edge of her primarily orange shirt. The wound gave her a burning sensation throughout her arm, but she did not want that to get in the way of their mission. The pain would potentially subside soon.

"I'll be fine, it's nothing." May answered, as she pulled of her green bandana and wrapped it around her wound to cover it up.

Red looked down one of the tunnels and could just make out light at the far end of it.

"I see a light, let's hurry before reinforcements arrive." Red stated.

"Reinforcements?" Misty asked almost terrified.

"I've seen this behavior before, this is a hunt, and we're the prey." Red answered.

With that realization, the six trainers, Pikachu and Piplup began to race down the tunnel with May lagging behind. Soon they reached the light at the end of the cave and they were confronted by a seventy foot ledge that opened out to a large canyon with a natural stone pillar taller as the ledge just a few feet away from the ledge.

Dawn looked out to the bottom of the clearing and was suddenly brimming with great happiness.

"There it is I see the monument!" Dawn exclaimed pointing down into the opening. In Dawn's eyes she saw a statue of the Lake Guardians, made out of marble, with their eyes made out of ruby crystals.

"We've got to find a safe way down there, so that you can allow us to see it." May said to her.

"Can we use that pillar to climb down?" Ash asked the others.

"We're going to have to." Brock answered. The Rock Type breeder analyzed the pillar from every angle thinking of a safe way for them to use it down before he finally got an idea. "I'll go first, I'll hold onto it and when you guys jump I'll grab onto you and swing you further onto the pillar."

"Good thinking, Brock." Misty complimented. Brock took a few steps back before he ran out to the pillar. Successfully he grabbed onto it with his hands and found his footing, gaining a complete hold on the pillar.

"Okay it's safe, you guys can go across." Brock instructed. Misty went first but not before getting Azurill to climb into her backpack. She got a running start, jumping over the edge stretching out her hand. Brock grabbed onto it and swung her around the pillar where she grabbed onto it firmly. Dawn replicated Misty's tactic perfectly with excellent results as Brock helped her onto the pillar. Piplup was on her back when she jumped.

Red didn't use Brock's help to get onto the pillar; he just jumped over the edge and let himself fall a few feet before calling out Squirtle to use Waterfall. The cascading water from Squirtle's shell gave them enough lift to lower their fall enough to secure Red's place on the column and to call back Squirtle.

"Show off!" Dawn called down to Red playfully.

It was May's turn to jump but for some reason, she was heavily panting as she was running. When she jumped, she fell too short and would've fallen to her death had Red not grabbed her.

Ash was just about to jump, with Pikachu on his back, when he heard the sound of a high pitched roar come from the far side of the ledge to see an Anti Garchomp standing there.

"Ash jump!" Misty called out to him. The Anti Garchomp began to charge at him full speed, teeth and claws primed for the kill. With no time for a running jump, Ash overcame the fear that nearly paralyzed him and jumped towards the pillar. Ash held out his hand for Brock to grab it, and the Pokémon breeder just did that.

The Antimon stood at the ledge staring at the trainers as they circled around to the side of the pillar facing away from the ledge and began to climb down. The beast let loose a deafeningly shrill roar before lunging at the column with enough force that the natural pillar began to rock in its place.

As the pillar teetered, the six heroes began climbing down the ledge at a quicker pace. But every move they made, made the pillar more and more unstable, ready to fall over at any moment.

"Guys, jump!" Red shouted upwards to the other trainers and Pokémon.

"Are you insane?" Dawn shouted down to him, with Piplup waving its flippers in agreement.

"Just do it." Red demanded. Out of options, with the Garchomp climbing down after them and the pillar prepped to fall over; they all jumped off one at a time. After Ash, Brock and Dawn had jumped off, the pillar was increasingly unstable and it finally fell over.

Down fell off the mighty pillar as it crashed against the ledge and shattered into pieces. This forced Red, Misty and May to jump off at once. Red struck the ground hard, landing back first on a rock that was already on the ground. As he cringed in agony, he looked up to see chunks of rock heading towards him. The Pokémon Master rolled out of the way, just as the rocks struck against the ground.

A large rock piece was about to fall on May who suddenly found herself too weak to move, all she could do was scream as the rock got closer and closer to her. Before she could meet a rocky grave she felt herself being pushed out of the way of the rock by her Wartortle that leapt out of its PokéBall to save its trainer.

"Thanks Wartortle" May complimented weakly as she called it back to its PokéBall.

Just was Misty was scrambling to get back up; she heard a snorting sound coming from down the canyon. She looked up and, to her horror, saw three Antimon step out from the turn in the canyon. She scrambled to regain her footing. As she stood up and saw the others just recovering. But Dawn's scream of terror echoed through the canyon as she saw five more Antimon approach from the opposite end of the canyon, shrieking back at her in response.

"Quick, this way!" Brock shouted directing the others to another cave in the wall of the canyon.

Brock, Dawn, Piplup, Misty and Red began to make a run for it, while Ash and Pikachu helped an ailing May to her feet as they made a run for the cave as well. Only to be ambushed by four Antimon that charged out from it. Misty was not going to take this sitting down, she grabbed a PokéBall from out of her backpack and prepared for combat.

"Okay Gyarados, come out and use your Hyper…" Before Misty could finish speaking, another Pokémon emerged from a PokéBall in her bag.

"Psyduck?! I wanted to fight them, not feed them!" Misty whined. Psyduck glared up at the Anti Haxorus standing before it. All the Haxorus needed to do what hiss at it, for Psyduck to jump back into its PokéBall in terror.

"Well, you did your best Psyduck" Misty complimented her Pokémon sympathetically.

Antimon came at them from all corners, their hisses and shrieks filled the air as they surrounded the trainers. The terrifying demons all of a sudden stopped their advance on their enemies, as a shadow began to move across the ground that materialized into Darkrai.

"The Omega Priestess, the Messiah of our time." Darkrai stated as he looked right at Dawn. Red jumped between his friend and the Pitch Black Pokémon, with Chars' and Aero's PokéBalls in his hands.

"You'll have to go through me." Red challenged his foe. Darkrai chuckled at the boy's desperate show of aggression.

"What do I have to fear you for?" Darkrai taunted. Red prepared to call out one of his Pokémon before three Antimon approached him hissing, this forced him not to attack.

"The Priestess is mine." Darkrai commanded his soldiers, "All of you can have the rest."

"NO!" Dawn shouted in despair.

An Anti Scyther approached first, it reared out its blades and opened its mouth to reveal its razor like teeth and a satanic red glow. The six trainers huddled together, prepared to face death as a team. Together the six of them closed their eyes and waited for the monsters to leap in and begin their feeding. Misty personally grabbed Ash's hand and held it tight, symbolizing her true feelings for him. If she was going to die at least it would be with the young man she loved.

"Good bye Ash." Misty whispered with tears in her eyes.

"Good bye Misty." Ash whispered in reply.

Red just looked at Dawn and said, "We had a hell of a run."

The lone Antimon leaped into the air, only to be pushed aside by a Hyper Beam attack. Everyone looked up to the ridge they jumped from to see a Pokémon standing there. It looked like a giant rock being supported by four long stone legs. It had a giant X shaped armor on its face and two red eyes that emerged from the sides of the X. Its red eyes started down at the creatures below it, it recognized the humans and Pokémon as intruders on its territory, but it recognized the Antimon as evil.

"Metagross?" Ash asked shocked yet proud to see such a powerful Pokémon protecting them. This Metagross was different from the average ones, its body was silver instead of blue, and the armor X on its face was yellow instead of silver.

"A shining Metagross" Brock confirmed.

"Destroy it!" Darkrai shouted.

An Anti Druddigon and an Anti Dragonite took to the sky. The Anti Dragonite prepared to use a Shadow Beam attack, its mouth began glowing a dark purple and it prepared to unleash its devastating blast. But the Metagross moved quicker, it released another Hyper Beam attack from its open mouth. The beam struck the Anti Dragonite and was turned to dust in one devastating blast.

The Anti Druddigon charged at the Metagross, its mouth wide open to bite and rip into its opponent. Every Antimon was programmed to learn from the defeat of one of their kind. The Anti Druddigon learned that the Metagross had an advantage as long as it could attack its opponents at a distance, if it could get up close and attack the Iron Leg Pokémon, then the Pokémon couldn't defend itself.

Tragically for the Anti Druddigon, the Metagross would not so easily succumb to defeat. As The Antimon got close enough, the Metagross lifted one of its front legs, it began to glow and what looked like a meteor formed around it. Once the creature got close enough, Metagross swung its fist forward, striking the Anti Druddigon with enough force that it turned to dust as well.

Rage built up in Darkrai, how could these most advanced killing forces not compete with a lumbering dimwitted best? It was insufferable that they could not defeat the Metagross. If these beasts could not stop the attacking Pokémon, then he would. Darkrai put his two hands together and prepared to release a pulse of dark energy. As he lifted his hands up and readied to fire, he was attacked himself.

An energized disk shaped like a crescent moon struck Darkrai straight in his face sending toppling to the ground. The Nightmare master looked up to see a pink bird like Pokémon, with what looked like rings on her body, hovering over the rubble of the toppled pillar. In the fury of the battle, Dawn was capable of seeing the same Pokémon that Darkrai was looking right at.

"Cresselia!" Dawn exclaimed. The Lunar Pokémon looked at Dawn and bowed her head in respect to the Guardian Priestess.

Darkrai staggered to begin levitating again. He had hit a flaw in his plans, everything was working perfectly, but he was not prepared for Cresselia that ambushed him. If he called a retreat back to the Distortion World, Giratina would no doubt make him pay. But he was left with no choice, he could not combat Cresselia, not again.

"Fall back!" Darkrai commanded. The surviving Dark Pokémon turned around and followed the shadowy form of their commander. One turned around and let out a high pitched roar of discontent before joining the others. With its territory safe from these deathless assassins, the Metagross returned to the cave, from which it entered.

The Trainers looked at the Legendary whom just saved their lives. They were so grateful that she came, but had no idea how she could've sensed their presence in the mountains.

"Thanks for saving us, but how did you know we needed help?" Ash asked Cresselia. Cresselia cooed at Dawn, much to her surprise was that she understood what the Legendary Pokémon was saying.

"Cresselia says that she sensed Darkrai using his dark powers from a distance and she came to investigate." Dawn translated, "When she got here she found that Darkrai wasn't alone."

"You mean those things." Red commented pointing to the direction Darkrai left with his servants.

"How do you know that?" Ash asked.

"Cresselia told me." Dawn answered.

"And you understood her?" Brock asked shocked.

"Logically, this would be one of Dawn's powers." Red deduced.

"What kind of a Pokémon were they?" Misty asked terrified. Cresselia explained in her own language.

" Cresselia said it's not a Pokémon." Dawn translated, "Just a mindless beast, its only instinct is to destroy everything in its path. They are not alive; they're undead creatures that have no blood or organs, so she thinks they draw their life force from somewhere else."

"Giratina." Red concluded. Their investigation was cut short by Misty's cries to them.

"Guys, something wrong with May!" she shouted, everyone looked back to see May lying on the ground, sweating profusely and breathing heavily. Everyone ran to her aid, Brock put his hand on her forehead to better check her condition.

"She's burning up!" Brock stated in alarm.

Misty removed her green bandana from her arm, to reveal the slash wound had become sickly infected, swelling beyond its original size and turning purple. Brock and Ash gagged at the sight the disgusting wound. It was more grotesque than anything they had seen before.

"What's happening to her?" Misty asked in desperation. Cresselia began speaking and Dawn quickly translated.

"The venom of the Antimon, their teeth and claws are coated in it. The venom is harmless to Pokémon, but lethal to humans."

"Is there an antidote?" Ash asked. All eyes were on Cresselia, who simply shook her head in sorrow. They almost lost Dawn a couple weeks ago; they weren't going to lose May. Dawn keeled before her dying friend.

"That's not good enough." She stated. The young Priestess looked at the symbol of the Creation Trio in her palms, "if I can save Celebi, I can save her."

"Are you sure you can?" Brock asked worriedly.

"I'm a Guardian Priestess" Dawn answered confidently, "Of course I can."

Dawn put her hands onto May's wound and concentrated. She tried remembering what she was feeling when she revived the Celebi. She remembered her desperation, her anguish and her sorrow, she felt that more so, today. Remembering that key fact, Dawn did the same thing. This time, she prayed to the god of all Pokémon to allow her to heal May.

"Transcend the confides of time and space" Dawn chanted as the words seemed to flow through her mind, "Arceus give me the power to heal."

Once again, she began to glow golden and that golden light flowed into May. purple venom began to seep out of the wound and the wound itself began to heal, soon it disappeared. May took in a massive gasp for air as she staggered back into consciousness.

"What happened?" May asked in a half dazed tone.

Cresselia once again cooed at Dawn and the Priestess in training was quick to translate.

"Cresselia says that she needs to leave but she'll be back when we need her help." With her words translated Cresselia and then faded away.

Everyone was filled with joy to see that May was saved from the brink of death. But they still had work to do. Dawn walked up to the statue of the Lake Guardians, gently she placed her hand on the statue as it began to glow and brighter and brighter until the lights finally dimmed and the curse upon it was lifted. As with the Golden Tree, this one had a riddle on it. Red approached the statue and read the texts on it.

"A tune most bright, a sound most pure that even the gods can hear it, it is crafted from azurite and yet shall bring music." He read.

"Make a tune, that must mean that the next monument is an instrument." Brock theorized.

"Azurite, isn't that a kind of stone?" May asked.

"Yeah and the only way I could think of it being an instrument would be if it was something you blow air into." Misty added.

"Something like a clarinet, or a trumpet, a saxophone, a flute." Ash began listing instruments before one of them caught May's attention.

"A flute, The Azure Flute!" She exclaimed.

"The flute that can soothe the mightiest beast." Brock identified.

"Isn't that flute in the Jubilife City Museum of Antiquities?" Dawn asked.

"It was." May explained, "Before it was stolen by Team Rocket just two days ago."

"You've got to be joking, those dorks have the flute now of all times." Misty sighed.

"Don't underestimate them" Red warned.

"We need to get that flute, it has the next riddle. I think I know what's about to happen." Ash said as he looked over to Red who nodded in agreement.

"The only way to get the Azure Flute is to sneak into Team Rocket headquarters and steal it." May exasperated. Red stepped forward, knowing what had to be done next.

"I have a plan to get it, but right now our attention must be drawn towards other matters." He said. "But the worst has yet to come, this is just the beginning, war has begun."


End file.
